Kapitel 12: Library

Lucas and Sarah called the nurse and rushed off to class. Classmates greeted Lucas with angry and judgemental faces.

"W-what the..." Lucas frowned when he saw the looks from his classmates.

"You're late." Mr. Weiward said, but when he saw Lucas, he smiled.

"How are you, Lucas?" The teacher said with a bright smile.

Lucas's classmates were confused, as Mr. Weiward hated being late for class. Especially if the tardy one was a guy who couldn't do magic like Lucas. They all whispered together, looking in Lucas' direction.

"I... Uh..." Lucas didn't know what to say, because the whole situation was making him very uncomfortable. Even though he knew that the school disliked 'Lucas Ciffer', he didn't expect that he was so infamous that all eyes were on him. And Mr. Weiward's exaggerated friendliness added fuel to the fire.

'I'll never be able to study in peace over these bastards.' Lucas cursed in his mind. He bowed to the teacher without answering and walked to the vacant desk.

The classroom door opened again and Sarah came running in.

"S-SORRY I AM LATE." She yelled as she ran past the teacher and grabbed Lucas by the arm.

"Our desk is here." She said, dragging Lucas to an empty desk at the back of the classroom.

"M-Miss Sarah..." Mr. Weiward said, but when he saw Sarah wasn't paying attention to him, he waved his hand in exasperation.

"Sarah!" Mr. Weiward yelled to get Sarah's attention.

"Y-Yes?" Sarah jumped up in fright.

"Where have you been? Can you see the time?" Mr. Weiward walked up to her and scolded her angrily.

"Ahhh, there's our teacher..." The students chuckled.

"Strange that Lucas slipped past him."

"Really..."

Suddenly, Lucas stood up and bowed to the teacher with a smile. 'If this keeps up, the lesson will never start.' Lucas mentally fidgeted so much that his mana was boiling, threatening to break free.

"Teacher... Uh... Mr. Weiward, I apologize. Sarah was late because she helped me before class." Lucas still faked a smile, but his lips trembled with annoyance.

Teacher Weiward turned to Lucas with a raised eyebrow.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes, if you're going to punish someone, punish me." Lucas said.

"Ah... Forget it. Sit down." The teacher pointed his hand at the table. He thought that if Lucas was an adventurer, he was probably late for an important reason.

Lucas nodded, and the classroom made an even bigger commotion.

"Eh?" The students gasped.

All the students in the class stood up and started shouting over each other

"What the fuck?" Some students shouted, unable to bear the injustice.

"Punish them!" other classmates shouted.

"Nonsense. Since when is that loser with no magic exempt from punishment?"

"Which one of you cursed?" Mr. Weiward asked, letting out a bright blue aura. Suddenly, the classroom went cold, and all the students fell silent.

....

After class, Lucas and Sarah walked down the hallway. She led him towards the library.

"I can't believe how boring that class was." Lucas yawned.

'I don't know what I expected... But definitely not MATH.' Lucas' inner self screamed in anger.

"Well... Math is an important lesson."

"Yeah, and where am I going to use the skills of this important lesson?" Lucas asked, rolling his eyes.

"M-Maybe in the future... come in handy?" Sarah wondered too, unable to give Lucas an answer.

"And here... Library." Sarah pointed her finger at the old door.

"..." Lucas remained silent and walked inside with little hope.

Inside, Lucas saw a large library full of old and new books, and walls decorated with various paintings.

"Whoa. I didn't expect..." Lucas gasped in amazement. He had expected the school library to be just as boring as his classes in his past life. But unlike the classrooms, the library was full of magical artifacts and ancient books.

"Can we read anything in these books?" Lucas picked up the first book that came up and read the title.

"Mathematics... History?" Lucas frowned.

"Are you kidding?" Lucas put the book back, and Sarah laughed.

"What books do you want?" Sarah asked.

"Something about controlling magic." Lucas said, turning to Sarah.

'Controlling magic' was the only reason Lucas had come to this strange school. If the entire library was going to be about simple sciences, Lucas had no reason to stay here.

"Why do you need books on magic control?" Sarah raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Don't you... Uh..." Sarah wanted to ask, 'Why would a guy without magic need a book about magic'. But she refrained, thinking it would make Lucas uncomfortable.

"Yes. I don't have magic." Lucas lied.

When Lucas lied, Sarah raised her eyebrows. As if suspecting something, she said nothing and just took Lucas by the hand.

"Come on. Follow me." Sarah said with a soft smile and led Lucas to the other side of the library.

"Everything you need to know about everyday magic is here."

"Every day?" Lucas asked in frustration, hoping to learn more about curses so he could erase the witnesses' memories in the future.

"Yes. We're not taught the dangerous areas of magic." Sarah said, taking the book 'Energy Management' off the shelf and handing it to Lucas.

"It's still better than math." Lucas smiled as he read the title. After flipping through a couple of pages, he decided he needed to take this book home with him.

"Is it possible to take this book home?"

Sarah shook her head.

"Not without a library card." Sarah said, and then pulled the card out of her purse.

"But I can take it for you..." Sarah smiled as she took the book from Lucas' hands.

Lucas smiled back. 'Why wasn't she in the original story? Lucas Ciffer would have had a much different life. ' Lucas asked himself, a little upset, but drove off the thought and thanked Sarah.

"Thanks." Lucas said with a bow.

"It's okay... My pleasure." Sarah blushed and shook her head as Lucas thanked her.

"L-Let's look for more books on controlling magic..." Sarah said right before the bell rang to announce the class start.

"Wanna skip some classes?" Lucas chuckled.

"S-Sure!" Sarah quickly nodded and the two of them spent the rest of the class in the library.